Normand, it's been all over the blogs and forums which is why I didn't write it in so many words, but yes, Mona di Orio passed away. Out of respect for the privacy of her friends and family, I would prefer not to elaborate on the information I have.

I am so very sad about this. I had tried several of Mona's older works, but hadn't found one to love. Though they were certainly unique and "from the heart"! Then I tried her Oud from her new collection, and was seriously impressed. It's beautiful and original. I felt she was just getting her "sea legs", so to speak, and I was very excited to try her future perfumes. She seemed to have worked through quite a bit of trouble, some brought by LT's creepily scathing reviews (that I felt were undeserved and just mean-spirited), and had found some new distributors. It seemed everything was looking brighter, and that makes her death much sadder to contemplate. Thanks for the lovely poem for those of us who miss her presence in the perfume world.-Marla

Marla, you're right, Mona di Orio's loss is all the more tragic that she had definitely pulled out of a rough patch with her company and was on her way to success and a wider recognition. We'd met at a party last summer and were planning to speak about her work. You never think, with someone so young, that time is at a premium.

I've been a practitioner of Buddhism for several decades now and I still don't get the "Now, Now, Now!" imperative of the philosophy on a daily basis, though the wisdom is constantly apparent.... I'm sorry you didn't have the chance to work together.-Marla

Marla, years ago, I still thought the older people I met, Lawrence Durrell, Juliet Man Ray, Franz Kracjberg (still living, look him up, first ecowarrior in Brazil) would be there forever. For the old, I've learned: be there, talk, laugh, get the stories, be their last memories, pleasures and desires, and get drunk with them even if it kills them.Mona, who had another Christian name we knew her by, couldn't qualify for that lesson.Modern life and geography don't help us much. I shall hereby, within the next minutes, set up a travel fund to go and see the people who matter.

Such a tragic loss... She was just getting her momentum going, I felt she was going to accomplish such great things in perfumery, judging by the progression of her latest collection. I am glad to own several of her fragrances to remember her by, although I never met her personally. Life is truly impermanent and we never know how long we will be here... We must be swift to love, make haste to be kind, as one favorite writer said.

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Denyse Beaulieu

I am a writer and translator based in Paris, as well as the perfume editor for Citizen K. My book The Perfume Lover, A Personal History of Scent is published by Harper Collins (UK), St. Martin's Press (USA) and Penguin (Canada). The perfume linked to the book,Séville à l'aube, was composed by Bertrand Duchaufour for L'Artisan Parfumeur.